Paul O'Connell warns things will be far from 'perfect' against Georgia

Irish Daily Mirror

3 days ago

Paul O'Connell has, more or less, been left holding the fort as Ireland's front-line players are away with Andy Farrell, Simon Easterby, John Fogarty and Andrew Goodman and the British and Irish Lions in Australia.
It is up to the former Ireland and Munster captain to assemble a team, that is essentially an Ireland 'A' side and with little time to prepare, to take on Georgia who are ranked no11 in the world.
"It won't be perfect," he admits of the forthcoming challenge. "We are aware of when we play, even with the most experienced internationals in the group, that it won't be perfect.
"It's a huge chance for all these players coming in, but how do you get them in the frame of mind that they're going to play their game rather than freezing on the night, and actually take responsibility for what they're doing?
"You almost have to experience that and go through it a little bit to learn how to figure it out, that's why we want them, that's why we wanted them in this two-week prep window, that's what international rugby is all about.
"They really get to learn how to come in, how to learn quickly, how to get aligned quickly so trying to make the players aware of that as well is really important, and we just have to crack on - that's the challenge for them and I'm sure that.
The simple is that Georgia are a very proud rugby nation but it also glib, there is a lot more to Lelos.
"They're really well coached as well and we know a lot of their coaches, obviously, Conor McPhillips, Roddy Grant. I would have learned an awful lot from Roddy Grant when I first came into the job in Ireland, he was working at Ulster at the time.
"You could see it in how they played, they were very well organized. They are, I suppose, a little bit like us, they're quite passionate about what they do and they're able to combine that now with some really good organisation and really good structure to what they do.
O'Connell's homework looks to have been impressive and he specifically namechecks a second-row and a back-row from the Black Lions.
"They have a mixture of players playing in France who bring a real, I suppose, flair to what they do and the Black Lion players have impressed a lot of the coaches as well. The likes of Mikeil Babunashvili and Luke Ivanashvilli from a forward point of view, these kinds of guys are really tough, well organised, smart rugby players.
"They had a good Autumn, nearly beating Italy, they had a good summer, they put 29 points on Australia down there although they didn't beat them. They beat a tier one nation in Japan. They've been steadily beating tier one nations in the last number of years. So it's a brilliant test match for our players."
It is an unfamiliar group of players, after all Ireland have 16 players in Australia at the moment along with Caelan Doris and Robbie Henshaw being ruled out through injury.
"That's the great thing for this tour as we have had so many players selected for the Lions. There's another bonus for us in that we get this really tough test match in a place, I suppose, against a country that are full of confidence in how their rugby is going.
"So these guys know they have a real challenge on their hands and it's not a game of small significance.
"It's a really significant test match where they have to perform so they're going to learn a lot and we learn a lot as coaches as well."
The last fortnight has seen Ireland working on learning the overarching game-plan, this means certain forwards assigned to loitering out wide, wingers turning up in midfield and the centre deploying a shoot-up defence.
"It has been a great few weeks of preparation, challenging in that we've coached with new players so they're kind of trying to learn our way first and foremost before they can do it well so that's been a bit of a challenge.
"We were lucky to get an extra day last Thursday week. So we got an extra day's prepping and I suppose the exciting thing for the players is the real challenge of being international players.
"You are trying to come together on a Monday, trying to be ready to play a test match with no excuses on the following Saturday.
Two weeks ought to have been enough to get pretty comfortable with it. There's similarities between how we play in all the different provinces, they pick things up quickly, trying to pick up the (rugby) language, trying to pick up the little nuances of how we feel.
"And the more experienced guys around the group have been very good with the new players as well. I suppose Craig Casey is able to explain to Tom Ahern at home, this is the word for that and they get aligned a little bit quicker so I think the more senior players in the group have been excellent with the younger guys."
Saturday's game will be about contending with their own problems as well as those posed by Georgia.
"As I said, it's not going to be perfect. I'm sure there'll be plenty of nerves but that's part of it. We've spoken to them quite a lot and a big part of what we do is about the players staying present, not taking mistakes with them.
"We do a lot of work on that, speak a lot about that but, ultimately, until you're in the middle of it and you're making a mistake and you're trying to have to figure out how to get out of your own way, you know, it's only by getting on the field and experiencing it that you really learn."
Ireland team & replacements *denotes uncapped
15. Jimmy O'Brien (Naas/Leinster) (8)
14: Tommy O'Brien (UCD/Leinster)*
13: Jamie Osborne (Naas/Leinster)(7)
12: Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster)(19)
11: Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster)(38)
10: Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster)(8)
9: Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster)(captain)(18)
1: Jack Boyle (UCD/Leinster)(2)
2: Gus McCarthy (UCD/Leinster)(4)
3: Thomas Clarkson (Dublin University/Leinster)(6)
4: Cormac Izuchukwu (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(1)
5: Darragh Murray (Buccaneers/Connacht)*
6: Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster)(27)
7: Nick Timoney (Banbridge/Ulster)(3)
8: Gavin Coombes (Young Munster/Munster)(2)
Replacements:
16: Tom Stewart (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(2)
17: Michael Milne (UCD/Munster)*
18: Jack Aungier (Clontarf/Connacht)*
19: Tom Ahern (Shannon/Munster)*
20: Cian Prendergast (UCD/Connacht)(4)
21: Ben Murphy (Clontarf/Connacht)*
22: Jack Crowley (Cork Constitution/Munster)(24)
23: Calvin Nash (Young Munster/Munster)(10)
Ireland Men's Squad – Summer Tour 2025Player/Club/Province/CapsBacks (14): Shayne Bolton (Connacht)*, Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster)(captain)(18), Jack Crowley (Cork Constitution/Munster)(24), Nathan Doak (Banbridge/Ulster)*, Ciaran Frawley (UCD/Leinster)(8), Hugh Gavin (Galwegians/Connacht)*, Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster)(19), Ben Murphy (Clontarf/Connacht)*, Dermot Kilgallon (Munster)*, Jimmy O'Brien (Naas/Leinster)(8), Tommy O'Brien (UCD/Leinster)*, Jamie Osborne (Naas/Leinster)(7), Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster)(8), Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster)(38)
Forwards (18): Tom Ahern (Shannon/Munster)*, Jack Aungier (Lansdowne/Connacht)*, Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster)(27), Jack Boyle (UCD/Leinster)(2), Thomas Clarkson (Dublin University/Leinster)(6), Gavin Coombes (Young Munster/Munster)(2), Max Deegan (Lansdowne/Leinster)(2), Cormac Izuchukwu (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(1), Alex Kendellen (UCC/Munster)*, Gus McCarthy (UCD/Leinster)(4), Paddy McCarthy (Dublin University/Leinster)*, Michael Milne (UCD/Munster)*, Darragh Murray (Buccaneers/Connacht)*, Tom O'Toole (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(16), Cian Prendergast (UCD/Connacht)(4), Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley/Leinster)*, Tom Stewart (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(2), Nick Timoney (Banbridge/Ulster)(3), Scott Wilson (Queens University/Ulster)*
IRELAND SUMMER TOUR SCHEDULESaturday, 5th July: Georgia v Ireland, Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi (kick off 9pm local time, 6pm Irish time);Saturday, 12th July: Portugal v Ireland, Estádio Nacional do Jamor, Lisbon (kick off 7pm local, same Irish time)Ireland Men's Squad – Summer Tour 2025, departing for Tbilisi on Wednesday, 2nd July.